Wonka Ball Evokes "Better, Queerer Version of Prom"

The About Face Theatre company, which develops new works that explore gender and sexual identity, hosted its "Wonka Ball" benefit at the Chicago Illuminating Company on Friday night. The event drew 375 guests and raised $72,000. Dubbed "Your Prom: The Remix," the evening let vendors put artistic pretension to the side. "It's a prom theme, so tacky is O.K.," said Frost's Dennis Remer, who worked on the design with Dan Stermer, a director with the company.

Indeed, subtlety was hard to come by in a space filled with rainbow-hued balloons and drapes, glittery stars, and guests who took the theme to heart quite liberally. One man, for example, came dressed in drag as horror-film character Carrie, with fake blood spatters and all.

At the bar, servers spiked punch that guests ladled out of a massive silver bowl, and Starbelly Studios Photography's photo area let couples pose beneath an arch adorned with silken butterflies and Technicolor flowers. Members of the ensemble circulated the space asking partygoers to vote for them for prom king and queen. And before the evening wrapped up, DiDa Ritz of RuPaul's Drag Race put on an energetic show while sparkling confetti spilled down on the crowd.

"This year, I think there was a major difference in the way we approached entertainment," said Biz Wells, development manager for the About Face Theatre. "We worked really hard to make the event much more interactive. From the prom photo booth to the spiked punch to the performers playing classmates vying to win prom king and queendom, our goal was to make the audience feel like they were at a better, queerer version of their prom."